The article examines the historical roots of the branch of History known asBusiness History, placing particular emphasis on the vague and controversialconcept of entrepreneurship, examining parameters such as the tradition andculture of each country. It examines three indicative biographical narratives ofthe life and work of businessmen in heavy industry (John Davison Rockefeller1839-1937, Marcus Wallenberg 1899-1982 and Prodromos Bodosakis-Athanasiadis1891-1979), in order to identify common structural characteristicsand cultural peculiarities, not in the businessmen themselves –who representanalogous examples of international businessmen– but in the correspondingtreatment of the subject in the national historiography. An attempt is madeto pose a few questions concerning the development of the branch of BusinessHistory, which emerge from the need to train business management personneland the inquiries of scholars of economic theory and history. The history of thebusiness sector which begins from studying the business as a unit, the businessbranches of the national economy, analysing the relations between private enterpriseand the state and policy, frequently aimed/aims at educating businesspersonnel, formulating theoretical schemas and constructing social and culturalparadigms. The usual subjects in this discussion concern primarily the family,the company, the market and the state, and technology. The field of biographyor of collective prosopographical approaches from the business world offers theopportunity of critical appraisal of diverse theoretical schemas emanating fromeconomic theory.
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